Abstract

Citations

Using the URL or DOI link below will
ensure access to this page indefinitely

You will receive a perfect bound, 8.5 x 11 inch, black and white printed copy of this PDF document with a glossy color cover. Currently shipping to U.S. addresses only. Your order will ship within 3 business days. For more details, view our FAQ.

Quantity:Total Price = $9.99 plus shipping (U.S. Only)

If you have any problems with this purchase, please contact us for assistance by email: Support@SSRN.com or by phone: 877-SSRNHelp (877 777 6435) in the United States, or +1 585 442 8170 outside of the United States. We are open Monday through Friday between the hours of 8:30AM and 6:00PM, United States Eastern.

Rooms of Their Own: An Empirical Study of Occupational Segregation by Gender Among Law Professors

This Article, part of a symposium, Dismantling Heirarchies in Legal Education, forthcoming in 73 UMKC L. Rev. issue 2(2004), empirically examines one aspect of gender segregation within law schools - the subjects that men and women law professors teach. Examining a thirteen-year period ending with academic year 2002-03, the Article finds that gender segregation is widespread and growing despite the fact that the proportion of women law professors increased during this period by nearly 50%. By 2002-03, women and men were largely teaching different subjects: in almost 80% of subjects taught the gender of the professor deviated to a statistically significant degree from the overall male/female ratio of law school professors. Courses with these gender disproportions generally could be divided into female or male courses, with female courses being softer, more peripheral, less prestigious courses (such as poverty law) and male courses being more intellectual, prestigious, and more central to law (such as constitutional law). These gender identities tended to widen with time.

After examining these results in the context of a larger pattern of job segregation and re-segregation by gender, the Article discusses the negative impact of this gender segregation in the legal field. It concludes that women must be fully integrated into the legal academy, not just for their own benefit but also in order for the law to develop most fully. For this to occur, women must move from the peripheral to the core, or, using an analogy from immigration law (a disproportionately female-taught course), women need to move from green card to full citizenship status.

Date posted: February 13, 2005

Suggested Citation

Kornhauser, Marjorie E., Rooms of Their Own: An Empirical Study of Occupational Segregation by Gender Among Law Professors. University of Missouri-Kansas City Law Review, Vol. 73, No. 2, 2004. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=623545